Alzheimer's disease is nation's most costly, says a new report

A report from the Alzheimer’s Association confirms that Alzheimer’s is the most expensive condition in the nation, costing Medicare and Medicaid a combined $150 billion in 2014. More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, including 480,000 in Florida.

The report also finds that women in their 60s are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the rest of their lives as they are to develop breast cancer, raising it to an equal level of concern.

Alzheimer's in its earliest stages can commence 20 years ahead of full-blown symptoms, while people are functioning fully. Researchers found that nearly a quarter (24%) of men and women hold the mistaken belief that it must run in their family for them to be at risk. In fact, everyone with a brain – male or female, family history or not – is at risk for the disease. Quick facts.Read the report.

The photo is by former Herald photo editor Maggie Steber who bravely documented her mother's descent into Alzheimer's.

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This blog is produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.